Riverside's sewage sludge ban hits region's plants

SPENCER SOPER

Staff Writer

Riverside County's ban on a foul-smelling sewage byproduct used
on farms has regional wastewater treatment plants scrambling for
other places to dump their sludge.

"This action … is rippling throughout Southern California as a
major crisis," said Michael Hogan, manager of the Encina sewage
treatment plant in Carlsbad. "Nobody in the industry expected that
they would take immediate action like this."

The ban on sludge imposed earlier this month has created a
dispute. On one side are sewage treatment plant operators and
farmers who say tilling sludge into the soil is a safe,
cost-effective way to recycle human waste. On the other side are
residents who fear the smelly gunk will make them sick and
contaminate ground water.

"It smells like crap," said Penny Newman, a sludge foe who lives
in an unincorporated area of western Riverside County. "It really
is a huge assault on people's quality of life."

The gooey, black sludge called "Class B biosolids" is made up
mostly of what people flush down their toilets or wash down their
garbage disposals, which is heated at sewage treatment plants and
de-watered.

The sludge is used nationwide to fertilize animal feed and fiber
crops such as alfalfa, hay and cotton. Farmers spray it on dry land
and till it into the soil to add nutrients and moisture. The sludge
also enhances the soil's ability to retain water.

The Riverside County Health Services Agency this month
prohibited Class B sludge -- which can carry disease-causing
pathogens -- from being placed within a half mile of any homes or
schools, effectively banning its use.

The ban does not restrict the use of Class A sludge, which has
been further refined to kill all pathogens.

About 15,000 acres of land in western Riverside County -- much
of it along the Interstate 215 corridor between Temecula and Perris
-- have been fertilized with thousands of tons of Class B sludge in
recent years.

The restrictions on the spreading of sludge has forced Eastern
Municipal Water District, which serves a large portion of Southwest
County, to change its procedures. The district, which produces 100
tons of sludge daily, is piling it on the ground around its plants
because it can't find anything else to do with it, district
spokesman Peter Odencrans said.

Meanwhile, sewer plants in North San Diego County are paying
steeper prices to haul their sludge further than before.

The Encina and San Elijo sewage treatment plants, which serve
Carlsbad, Encinitas, San Marcos, Solana Beach, Vista and the city
of Oceanside's water utility combined had been trucking more than
100 tons of sludge to Riverside County daily, but had to stop
hauling it there since Tuesday.

They say they now pay twice as much to haul the stuff to Kern
County or Yuma, Ariz.

The ban will double Oceanside's yearly costs of disposing of
sludge to $1 million because it now hauls it to Kern County, said
Barry Martin, the city's water utilities director.

"We're going to be $500,000 over budget, which means the
customer is going to have to pick that up," he said.

Officials at the Encina and San Elijo sewage treatment plants
expressed similar concerns and predicted the ban could prompt rate
hikes.

Beyond the immediate cost increase, sewer plant operators fear
multimillion-dollar plant upgrades could be needed if other
sludge-friendly counties follow Riverside County's lead and impose
a ban. For instance, Kern County is looking at phasing out sludge
by 2003.

Right now, plants pump raw sewage into large vats where it is
heated to kill organic pathogens, but some viruses, bacteria and
fungi remain after treatment. Then it goes through settling tanks
and rollers to separate the water from the solids, and the end
product -- Class B sludge -- is dumped into trucks and hauled
away.

The material can be further refined to a pathogen-free Class A
by baking it longer at a higher temperature, treating it with
chemicals or mixing it with sawdust, lawn trimmings and other green
waste.

Odencrans said it would cost about $4 million to upgrade Eastern
Municipal's facilities to create a cleaner sludge.

"We are investigating the alternatives, and any alternatives are
going to be more expensive," Odencrans said. "At some point, the
customers will have to pay for this."

In response to the sewer plant operators' outcry about increased
costs, Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster was unapologetic.
Fair questions have surfaced about whether the sludge can
contaminate ground water and cause health problems, and the fact
that the smelly sludge disturbs residents is undeniable, he
said.

"All of the surrounding counties want to use Riverside County as
their dumping ground, and I can't support that," Buster said.

The board is scheduled to consider an outright moratorium on
Class B sludge in the next few weeks. The moratorium would be in
effect until at least May, by which time the county will have had
time to review a federal report that examines the effects of Class
B sludge.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says health risks
associated with sludge are negligible, but that conclusion has come
under question from some scientists and the U.S. Office of the
Inspector General.

The EPA has requested that the National Research Council, a
panel of scientists, reassess federal policies governing the use of
sludge.

John Murk, manager of the San Elijo sewage treatment plant in
Cardiff, said Riverside County's sludge ban is an overreaction to
complaints.

"Everybody's afraid of everything these days," Murk said.
"They've been using this stuff for years, and there's no record of
anyone getting sick."